Using arrays or std::vectors in C++, what's the performance gap?

Question

In our C++ course they suggest not to use C++ arrays on new projects anymore. As far as I know Stroustroup himself suggests not to use arrays. But are there significant perf

Answer 1

Assuming a fixed-length array (e.g. int* v = new int[1000]; vs std::vector v(1000);, with the size of v being kept fixed at 1000), the only performance consideration that really matters (or at least mattered to me when I was in a similar dilemma) is the speed of access to an element. I looked up the STL's vector code, and here is what I found:

const_reference
operator[](size_type __n) const
{ return *(this->_M_impl._M_start + __n); }

This function will most certainly be inlined by the compiler. So, as long as the only thing that you plan to do with v is access its elements with operator[], it seems like there shouldn't really be any difference in performance.